Trouble with clipping with saws

I think this is probably something mathematical that I don’t get, but why is it that when I have two saw~ objects outputting a frequencies a major third from each other there is this rhythmical clipping? When you up the volume of the saws it seems to recede into the background, but as everything is in the patch when it loads, you’ll hear the major third and also these weird little intermittent clips.

perhaps also it is something to do with my sound card if you don’t hear it.

thanks,
Ian

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Hi
You might be experiencing ‘beating’: real oscillations at the frequency of the absolute difference between two frequencies; otherwise, if it is actual distorted clipping then it may be a soundcard issue:

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I know what you are talking about and hear it regularly in acoustic instruments tuning, but this sounds different, more like little clicks. Did you not hear them? Listening now makes me think you have to wait for a second to really hear them, they’re not obvious..

I tried multiplying them in half and then adding them, but it doesn’t reduce the clips, nor does multiplying them by .2, the quieter they are as a matter of fact, the easier it is to hear the clicks. I hear the beating you’re talking about n00b when the saws’ frequencies are close to each other, but this sounds weirder, more like something unnatural. Perhaps it’s something to do with adding saws, that you get weird combinations at higher frequencies.